Brazil’s presidential election sparked a second round of voting after neither major-party candidate received more than 50% of the votes.
With more than 99% of the vote counted, former president and left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva led incumbent right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro with 48.4% of the vote, according to results released by Brazil’s Electoral Superior Court. Bolsonaro received 43.2% as of Sunday evening.
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“We have a second round ahead where everything becomes the same, the [television advertising] time for each side becomes the same. And now, we are going to show it better for the Brazilian population, especially the most affected class, the consequence of the ‘stay at home, we’ll see the economy later’ policy,” Bolsonaro said, according to CNN.
The runoff election will allow millions of voters to witness a live debate between the two candidates. Bolsonaro defeated da Silva in the southeast areas, the country’s most heavily populated. Over 123 million Brazilians voted Sunday, while 32 million abstained.
“It will be important [to have a second round] because we will have the chance to do a face-to-face debate with the current president to know if he will keep on telling lies,” da Silva said.
Bolsonaro, who has been heavily criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, ran his platform on promises to increase mining, privatize public companies, and generate more sustainable energy to bring down energy prices. However, environmentalists have also condemned him for his large role in the deforestation of the Amazon.
Da Silva, who was president from 2002 to 2010, vowed to end hunger in the country, which returned during Bolsonaro’s administration. He also promised to reduce carbon emissions and deforestation in the Amazon.
Republican leaders in other parts of the country also performed better than pollsters expected, according to the New York Times. Claudio Castro, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, was reelected with 58% of the votes, 10 points above what was predicted. At least seven other former ministers of Bolsonaro were also elected to Congress, including his two most controversial advisers. One took part in the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the other contributed to deforestation.
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Other presidential candidates from smaller parties were also in the race Sunday, but they trailed far behind both candidates. Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement came third with 4.1% of the votes, and Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labour Party received 3% of the vote.
The runoff election will occur on Oct. 30.
